This paper sets out to consider problems and issues in educational reform in Zambia through an examination of the achievements and difficulties encountered in attempts to develop progressive and egalitarian change in the programmes of the Ministry of Education and Culture for children and adults, in agricultural extension and in workers' education. The paper is illustrative of relationships between educational and social and economic change and dilemmas facing educators wishing to institute reforms which benefit the poor in a largely unfavourable political and economic situation. In Zambia the situation is characterised by the domination of elite groups who either perceive that they have a vested interest in maintaining in their present form those functions of the educational system which relate to social selection and the legitimisation of poverty or whose consciousness and interests, due to their previous experience of education and the benefits they have obtained from it, may not permit them to consider alternatives seriously. It is not the intention to rehearse incrementalist/human capital and structuralist theories but I hope to provide some evidence which may firstly demonstrate the importance of structuralist theory in terms of gaining insight and developing appropriate strategies for reform and secondly show that educational reform may have an active political dimension and a degree of autonomy which may expose the repressive nature of society and so assist in the process of effectively changing it.

Underdevelopment in Zambia

Zambia is undergoing a period of deep economic and social crisis characterised by increasing urban and rural poverty; hunger and malnutrition; unemployment and underemployment; rural immiseration; continuing urban migration; and a large gap in incomes between 'haves' and 'have-nots'. The agricultural sector has been neglected so that sustained self-sufficiency in food for the whole population has not been achieved. Due to the decline in the world-market price, government revenue from the dominant copper-mining industry is low. There is a chronic shortage of foreign exchange, not assisted by the poor overall performance of secondary and import substitute industries. The national ideology 'Zambian Humanism'1 is ambiguous in that it may provide legitimation for either the continuation of the colonial and capitalist structure in the form of a mixed economy together with more egalitarian provision of schooling, health and welfare services or, with the publication of Humanism in Zambia Part II in 19742 and The Watershed Speech in 19753, a lurch towards a socialist interpretation based on control by the state of the major means of production, decentralisation of power and participatory democracy in industry4 . The exploitative potential of state capitalism in the interests of elite groups is insufficiently recognised and moves towards industrial democracy may be part of an attempt by the ruling party, the United National Independence Party, to decapitate the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions and its member unions and integrate or co-opt labour leadership into the party bureaucracy. A one-party state was established in 1972.

The political process in Zambia may be seen as an intra-elite and factional conflict for spoils controlled by the state between the political leadership and an emerging bourgeois elite rather than a broader class conflict in which the interests of villagers, for example, are consciously and effectively articulated5 . Evidence since 1975, including the fate of the 1976 Draft Statement on Educational Reform6 does not demonstrate movement in a socialist direction.

Zambia has relied heavily on the copper mining industry both before and after the achievement of Independence from the British in 1964. The copper industry provided export earnings, a relatively high average per capita income, purchasing power for the employed urban population and civil servants and the capacity to import food and consumer goods. However, the vast majority of the population (now an estimated 5.6 million) have benefited little from the income generated in the mining industry and if benefits were to be more widely distributed major changes in the structure of the economy and a reallocation of resources to the agricultural and rural sectors were required. These changes and reallocations have not occurred. Since 1975 low government revenue from copper has revealed, despite stated objectives in the First, Second and Third National Development Plans, the failure to diversify the economy and the lack of a serious attempt to regenerate the rural economy. Western economic development theories in the 1960s, including the human capital and manpower planning approaches to educational policies and investment, influenced government thinking and decisions. These emphasised that economic development on a broad front could be achieved by developing the 'modern' sector which would generate 'spread' effects ultimately benefiting the whole economy and population in terms of income and employment. The inadequacy of such theories in terms of the needs and interests of the vast majority of the population is exposed by the Zambian experience and the fact of increasing poverty. The Third National Development Plan admits that past experience in Zambia demonstrates that substantial rates of growth in the GDP has led neither to significant increases in employment nor to a 'trickle-down' of benefits to the poorest and that performance in these areas has been 'pathetic'7. It also demonstrates the dysfunctional and inegalitarian nature of an expanded educational system tied to the selection requirements of the modern sector of the economy. The nature of development and educational theory adopted reflects the interests of dominant urban minority groups wishing to maintain their social and economic positions and political influence. These groups include the political leadership, the civil service, the small but emergent bourgeoisie and elements in the trade unions.

Due to the major structural imbalances in the economy, an estimated 40% of the population now live in the urban areas, on the line of rail and the Copperbelt. Urban migration continues but there is no possibility that either modern sector of the economy or the urban informal sector8, which is in my view approaching saturation point, can productively absorb more than a small proportion of the current labour force or the annual output of primary school leavers who cannot gain a place in secondary school, which is now approaching 130,000 per annum. Approximately half of the labour force is now in the urban areas and there is employment for perhaps a quarter of them in the modern sector. Despite forecasts in the Third National Development Plan (1979) that 14,000 more wage jobs would be created annually it is likely that at least another 100,000 people will be added to the urban unemployed by the end of the plan period in December 1983.

Zambia has a vast potential for increased agricultural production and in the foreseeable future it is only through rural regeneration involving subsistence and small-scale farmers that productive employment and self-employment and increased standards of living for the majority of the people may be achieved.

There has been continuity in state policy on agriculture since the 1920s9. That policy has been to provide a cheap and consistent food supply to the towns and mine-workers at the expense of rural incomes. Cheaper food enables the mines to pay lower wages than would otherwise be possible. The rural-urban terms of trade10 have shifted against rural producers so that, for example, a rural producer had to produce and market three times more in 1979 than he did in 1965 to obtain the same urban goods. Rural impoverishment demonstrates that the Zambian economy has to be analysed as a whole and not as if the rural sector were independent of the 'modern' sector.

Despite stated government intentions, expenditure in the agricultural sector has seldom exceeded 10% of total government expenditure annually. It has now been recognised that the economic crisis has 'brought to the fore the basic fact that the country's economic malaise is far deeper than what can be attributed to the collapse of copper prices'11, and that the country's entire development strategy and social and economic priorities required reorientation. There is little evidence that this is now taking place.

Educational developments to 1975 and the failure of the 1976 Draft Statement on Educational Reform

The proposals and recommendations in the Ministry of Education's October 1977 document on Educational Reform12, which were adopted as official government policy in 1978, are to be understood in the context of the work of an educational reform group in the Ministry which was formed in 1973 and which produced a draft statement on educational reform published in 197613. The 1976 draft is a radical document which aimed to change in significant ways the hierarchical, pyramidal and inegalitarian formal educational structure. Of major interest to adult educators is that the draft saw adult and continuing education as an essential full and equal partner with child education and that it dealt with education as a whole, i.e. with child, adult and continuing education, with formal and non-formal education, with full-time and part-time education and with the greater integration of work and study. This is important in that popular responses to the problems and outcomes of the formal system for children are to develop fragmented youth, adult and non-formal programmes. These programmes can be useful for some individuals and groups but only scratch the surface of problems created by rural and urban poverty and the structure and nature of the formal educational system. Non-formal and youth programmes merely added on to an unreformed central formal system may only try to treat some of the massive number of casualties which continue to be produced. Worse than this, they may distract attention from the causes of grinding poverty and the horror and desperation of ruined young lives. They may also demonstrate that the government is concerned about these problems and contribute to the processes of 'cooling out' expectations and the legitimation of 'failure'. The 1976 draft statement at least tackles these questions by proposing reforms in the formal structure for children with continuing education as main and linked components of the whole system. The October 1977 document rejected and reversed all its major proposals. The failure of the 1976 draft statement is an indication of the nature of class power in Zambian society and of the relationships between educational reform and central social and economic forces.

The expansion of the Zambian formal educational system from 1964 to 1975 was massive. Until Independence, child, youth and adult education had been seriously neglected. In 1964 one million adults (two-thirds of the then adult population) were illiterate. The 1963 census showed that 76.6% of all men and 95.6% of all women were illiterate or sub-literate. The great majority of the rural population had never been to school. Only 15% of the men and 3% of the women had more than four years, primary school education. Only 1,200 African Zambians had obtained secondary school certificates - about the same number achieved in Ghana in 1943, Kenya in 1957 and Tanzania in 196014 . The total number of African university graduates was just over 100. Estimated manpower requirements for 1970 were 23,400 'O' levels, 10,200 Diplomas or 'A' levels and 5,600 university graduates.15 Nor, due to racial discrimination practised by white trade unions and the policy of the British colonial administration which treated African workers as rural tribesmen and migrant employees, did Zambia possess a stable, skilled industrial workforce based on the copper industry.

In order to fulfil popular demand for education and the perceived need to produce a selected small number of relatively highly skilled personnel to man industry and the civil service, expansion took place but the colonial pyramidal structure was maintained16 as shown in the table below.

Enrolment 1964-7517

1964

1975

Primary

Grade 1

74,643

146,715

Grade 2

72,068

142,094

Grade 3

70,847

141,188

Grade 4

67,654

140,684

Grade 5

33,602

103,915

Grade 6

31,602

97,974

Grade 7

14,781

99,693

Secondary

Form 1

4,693

21,462

Form 2

4,078

19,060

Form 3

2,176

17,041

Form 4

1,720

8,145

Form 5

783

7,341

Tertiary

Technical Final Year

NIL

1,374

University Final Year

NIL

450

Total enrolment in primary education expanded from 378,417 in 1964 (including 13,002 at Grade 8 which was dropped in 1966 and not included in the above table) to 872,392 in 1975 and in secondary education from 13,853 in 1964 to 73,049 in 1974. Education was taking approximately 30% of government's recurrent expenditure. Despite this rate of growth and the fact that by 1975 approximately 86% of those between the ages of 7 to 14 were in primary education there were major causes for concern. The increase in population, estimated at 3.5 million in 1964 and 5.5 million in 1975, was and is faster than the rate of expansion of educational facilities. The push-out at Grade 4 primary in 1975-6 was 32.6% and this figure when broken down into provinces reflects economic and social disparities between urban and rural population.

This situation gives urban children the advantage in terms of their chances of progression to secondary school. Urban Zambian middle-class parents also take advantage of 50 schools which used to be fee paying, known as 'ex-scheduled' schools, and of private educational facilities19 In 1975 only 23% of Primary 7 leavers gained places in secondary school. 77,000 young people were thus added, in 1975 alone, to those potentially seeking employment. Technical and Vocational Training places require secondary Form III entry qualifications so their prospects for either employment or further training were bleak. The impoverishment of the rural sector does not encourage them into self-employment in agriculture. The progression rate from secondary Form III to Form IV was 50% and some of these leavers in 1975 were also beginning to experience difficulties in obtaining employment or further training.

The Adult Education section of the Ministry of Education provided second-chance formal education through a national programme of night-school classes, a correspondence unit based in Luanshya, supervised study groups and 5 adult education centres. Adults and school leavers unable to find places in schools may study from Grade 1 Primary up to Form III Secondary and in some centres 'O' level courses. The minimum age was reduced in 1972 from sixteen to fifteen years to allow Grade 7 leavers to enrol (Enrolment in Grade 1 should take place at the age of 7.) In 1975 there were 67 full-time professional staff in the adult education section and approximately 4,000 part-time teachers who were mainly primary and secondary school teachers.

The demand for the programme was high and based on the hope that the formal certificate would lead back into the full-time system of education or the employment and further training. The enrolment target of 60,000 was exceeded by 5,716 in 1975 and again the programme favoured the urban areas. It had been intended to run down lower primary classes in favour of more upper primary, junior secondary and 'O' level courses but demand for lower primary persisted. The Correspondence Course Unit provides courses from Junior Secondary to 'O' level and material for supervised study groups. By 1975, 21,000 were enrolled and there were 7,000 Grade 7 leavers in supervised study groups receiving material from the Unit. The Supervised Study Groups were established in 1972 for students unable to gain secondary places either in day-school or night-school. The groups meet in schools, welfare and church halls with a supervisor who is often an unemployed Form V school-leaver. Progression rates in 1975 were approximately 50% between Form I and II and between Forms II and III.

The adult education section did introduce some vocational programmes in, for example, home economics, typing, shop-keeping and commercial subjects, but the bulk of the programme remained formal. For many students the certificates gained have not led to employment and frustration is the result. Despite this, demand is massive and the Section has been unable with its small budget to meet it. The programme indicates the continuing demand for more formal education as unemployment increases and as higher qualifications are demanded by employers.

Government non-formal provision for young people is seen as a way in which primary school 7 leavers, and now secondary leavers, can learn useful skills for self-employment and in which their disappointed aspirations and their frustrations can, at least for a time, be contained. It is regarded as existing for the 'failures' of the formal school system and is very much a second choice for leavers who wish to continue their formal education. The main thrust of government policy has been to expand the formal sector so that the intention has been to develop large and cheap non-formal programmes, involving the voluntary sector and charitable organisations. I think it worthwhile to include the following quotation as it accurately describes the basis and functions of non-formal education in Zambia.

. . . neither the Party and Government nor voluntary agencies attempt to demonstrate that such non-formal programmes offer equal opportunities for mobility to those who cannot continue within the formal system. There is a general underlying assumption that one is doing a great job by merely heeding the plight of the 'unfortunate' youth, keeping them off the streets (and away from mischief) and providing them at least with minimum chances to help themselves by finding semi-skilled employment or turning to self-employment. The motivation stems mainly from a concern about the political and social problems that such youth might otherwise cause, even though quite often this is covered in 'humanistic' terms. Thus, whereas international agencies often attempt to show that formal and non-formal education are merely the same parcel in two different 'wrappings', achieving the same results and offering the same opportunities, in Zambia it is (more or less tacitly) assumed that they are not equal and that the different 'wrappings' symbolise two very different institutions, each having different objectives. It is officially acknowledged that non-formal programmes are emergency measures designed to help stem the tide of the overwhelming youth problem and keep some control over this enormous mass of young people for whom the economy has no productive place. The ideology says that these problems are only temporary, caused by Zambia's very unfavourable position in the world economy and the consequent lack of foreign exchange, as well as by internal difficulties (of management, expertise, etc.). There is a great faith that these constraints are not inherent in the system but can be removed in due time: as the economy will pick up, also the educational system can expand again, thus providing more equal opportunities for those to whom they are not denied.20

The Zambia National Youth Service 1964-71 was succeeded by the Zambia National Service and these have been the major government programmes. They have involved agricultural and craft-training for employment and self-employment, political education and military training. The programmes have suffered from a lack of effective teachers and trainers and of effective follow-up work which would assist young people in their attempts to establish themselves. The 50 Rural Reconstruction Centres developed from 1975 have proved both costly and unsuccessful and have recently been closed down.

The need for major educational reform emerged from both a technical and functional viewpoint and from one concerned with more egalitarian social, economic and educational institutions. It was clear that piecemeal changes in the syllabus, expansion and improved teacher training, even if funds were available, could not rid the educational system of its effect of producing large numbers of primary and secondary school leavers with aspirations for jobs in the modern sector which were not available. The expansion of secondary and tertiary education is partly due to the manpower-planning approach and graduates of this part of the educational system could expect jobs and relative wealth in the modern private, parastatal and government sectors. In favouring a small minority the system is likened

. . . to a train which travels on a single track bound for one destination, but which ejects most of its passengers, without stopping, at several points along the route.21

The system is biased towards urban and better off groups in society and may be seen not as a national system but as a dual system producing benefits for the few and failure and rejection for the vast majority. Fragmented formal and non-formal adult and youth education, characterised by lack of staff and resources, cannot make a major impact on the problems created and reinforce the dual nature of the system. The popular demand for formal education was met by the attempt to continually expand the system, which only succeeded in delaying the problems of unemployment and this attempt, by 1974, was becoming increasingly difficult financially. It was also becoming increasingly clear that the system dominated by its pyramidal nature, the selection process, examinations and its contribution to the formation of élites was not producing the wealth and increased employment on which manpower planning and human investment theories depend for their credibility.

The reform group in 1974 were aware of both the technical and ideological aspects of the need for reform and worked on the assumption that Zambia was moving in the direction of a socialist transformation. The President had given encouragement and his endorsement to the purposes of the reformers. The 1976 statement on Education Reform was based on optimistic assumptions that the Party would be committed to transforming economic structures and systems of production and reward. The statement was also based on the following five principles of educational action:

to extend educational opportunity to all children and adults specifically to eliminate illiteracy and to enable all citizens to acquire basic education;

to create flexible educational structures which would enable much easier access from full-time to part-time education and back again, or from formal vocational education and back again, at all levels;

to combine study and productive work at all stages and in all programmes of the system;

to corporate political education in humanist socialism in all programmes;

to achieve participatory democracy in the management of institutions and the formation of educational policy.22

A diagram of the proposed new structure is shown in Appendix 1. Central to the scheme were the objectives of the integration of work and study and the provision of ten years' compulsory basic education for an which was a commitment made in UNIP's 1974 Manifesto. It tackled the education structure as a whole and while selection clearly remains the structure is much less pyramidal23. The selection system, where it was necessary to retain it, was to be based not on public examinations but on continuous assessment. The reforms aimed to develop productive skins, assumed that there would be productive social and economic roles for all graduates, and built in continuing education and worker's education opportunities. They accepted that the Ministry of Education has a continuing responsibility for people who have left full-time education and for people who have never been in the system. There was to be a comprehensive system of part-time education for workers and continuing education was to be a genuine partner of compulsory education as the 'second main arm of the national education system' and 'one of the chief instruments for raising the social, cultural and technical levels of the people of Zambia'24. The main aims of continuing education were to eradicate illiteracy; to provide alternative means for continuation of formal education through part-time study and for re-entry into full-time education where appropriate; and to enable workers to acquire and improve vocational skins. The Adult Section in the Ministry was to be upgraded to become a Department of Continuing Education which would supervise and have the power to co-ordinate all continuing education programmes with other ministries and agencies. Curricula and certification were to reflect adult interests and needs and a co-ordinated and flexible system of distance, correspondence and face-to-face teaching was to be developed. The Department was also to supervise a National Literacy Council which was to conduct a Literacy campaign. The poor cousin image of adult education was to be transformed in terms of policy and practice. This transformation was linked to necessary changes in the central formal system of education to form an integrated structure in which adult education was no longer perceived as something to be added on and asked to cope with drop-outs and casualties.

It is true that many aspects of the draft statement were too optimistic in terms of finance, management, the organisation of productive work, professional reactions and attitudes, teacher-supply, rotating in-takes, assessment procedures, volunteers and the role of the Party 25. But the document did not evade the issues and real problems of egalitarian educational reforms in Zambian society in that it recognised that for them to be fully effective there would need to be a concurrent social and economic transformation26. It made no specific proposals for achieving new economic structures but it was about educational reform and not an overall plan for development. It did however see educational reform as a part of the process of political and economic development and the struggle to achieve a more socially just society. That is, reform aimed at ending the dual and unequal nature of the educational system is seen as a necessary part of changing the dual and unequal nature of the economic structure.

The 1978 Reform and its effects

The period and nature of the formal and officially sanctioned National Debate on the reforms did not include realistic opportunities for the mobilisation and development of popular support.27 Nevertheless as win be noted in the conclusion this does not account adequately for the longer-term and more critical nature of debate and participation which evolved. In this sense some local participants redefined the nature of the exercise in their own terms.

The written response was small and largely from elite groups who opposed the reforms recognising that the nature of the current system served their interests.28 The price of copper in 1977 was low and it was becoming clear that the President's lurch towards the left was not being maintained. There were also changes in personnel in the Ministry of Education which favoured more conservative educational approaches.

The October 1977 Educational Reform, published in 1978, has left the Zambian educational system little changed. The diagram of the proposed structure is shown in Appendix 2. The pyramidal structure is maintained and the attempt to reach nine years' basic education for all is not likely to be achieved in the foreseeable future due to the lack of finance for the expansion of either basic or secondary education. The dual nature of the system is maintained. The integration of work and study is not emphasised and production activities are to be seen as serving educational purposes. Public examinations and the selection system are maintained. Controls on profit-making private schools are relaxed and these are mushrooming at present with little control from the Inspectorate. In contrast to the 1976 statement, private provision is encouraged as a means of supplementing state provision. There is no mention of achieving a socialist society which was made explicit in the 1976 statement. The Adult Education section of the Ministry is largely restricted to second-chance formal education and while the name has been changed to the Department of Continuing Education its role as a main and integrated arm of the educational system has been discarded. Its role in developing a formal and vocational system of education together with other ministries and agencies for all out-of-school youth and workers is abandoned.

In fact the Ministry of Education has given up its responsibility for unemployed school-leavers. The Reform recommends that skills training for the unemployed be co-ordinated by the Commissioner for Youth. The Commissioner for Youth had previously operated in the Ministry of Education and the Reform document recommended that the commissioner should be taken out of the Ministry of Education and operate directly under the Party.29 Literacy work is left to the Department of Community Development which is in the Ministry of Labour and Social Services and is starved of financial human and material resources.30 There are at present 34 Assistant Community Development Officers out of 106 engaged in literacy training. They have a target of reaching 5,000 people a year. Even if they could manage more contact, adequate teaching and learning materials would not be available. There is no literacy campaign.

The implementation of the 1978 Reforms depends on expansion of a largely unchanged formal structure which would only delay by two years the increase in numbers of unemployed young people. But to date financial considerations have precluded any significant expansion. A senior ministry official remarked in 1981 that the educational system was 'grinding down, halted or going backwards'. A start had not been made on the planned 16 secondary schools in December 1981. In 1979 the progression rate from primary to secondary dropped from 21.9% in 1978 to 19.7%.31 By 1981 the rate had dropped to 15.39% and in 1982 it is expected that only 22,000 out of 160,000 primary school leavers will gain places in secondary schools which is less than 14% and leaves 138,000 with extremely bleak prospects. Plans are going ahead for changes in the curriculum which aim to integrate productive skills into the mainly academic programme. But there are few trained teachers or teacher trainers in craft, and technical skills. Ironically, a search has been made for technical and craft teachers who after Independence were retrained as academic and classroom teachers. Practical subjects are not given a high priority by most teachers at present. It would also appear that technical skills are not fully integrated into the secondary curriculum in that it appears possible to gain the new Zambian School Certificate without taking examinations in practical subjects. Production activity may be regarded as an additional area and be non-examinable. But in December 1981 final decisions were still to be taken.

The lack of resources and increase in the number of children at primary school age are expanding the number of children not enrolled. Staffing, materials, teachers' housing and maintenance are major problems.

The Inspectorate once again became very conscious of the problems facing teachers in the class-room in the form of over-enrolment, lack of suitable textbooks, absence of suitable class-room furniture and need for repairs and maintenance of school buildings. It is hoped that the picture will become brighter some day.32

The quotation is from the 1979 Report and unfortunately the picture is no brighter at present. The 1978 Reform by maintaining the pyramidal structure intact and advocating piecemeal and incremental changes has not made an impact in either the inefficiencies of the system or the school-leaver problem.

The department of Continuing Education, established in 1979, despite the dedicated efforts of its staff, is quite unable to meet demand for more formal education and its attempts to diversify are frustrated by lack of funds and staffing. Total enrolment was down to 33,559 in 1980 and of these only 737 were in commercial and domestic science courses. The level of fees are a significant factor in preventing poorer students from enrolling. By Term 1 of 1981 only 15,251 were enrolled in classes (of which 725 were in commercial and domestic science courses). Enrolment in Supervised Study Groups was 6,870. There is now no money to pay supervisors and full-time teachers are being asked to supervise free of charge.

Responses from teachers cannot yet be assessed but it does jeopardise the study group programme as does lack of funds to print material at the Correspondence College. The College should have moved to purpose-built premises in Lusaka but staff housing is unavailable.

The financial situation is now so bad that in 1981 it was not possible to open Form I classes and it was not known what funds would be available for 1982. The Adult Education Association of Zambia is assisting by forming branches which employ teachers to run courses where the Ministry has no funds. Although the major objectives and priorities of the Association do not involve the organisation of formal classes, such is the demand that they are pressured into taking this task on. These courses are mainly in the urban centres and once again the level of fees deters poorer students. The five Adult Education Centres are renamed Centres for Continuing Education and a new one has opened in Kapata. The centres aim to design courses locally as well as following national syllabus courses. The emphasis is to be on skills training and courses aimed at increasing self-employment in the local economy. The quantitative and qualitative impact of the Department's work on the appalling prospects facing school-leavers is marginal. The lack of priority given to continuing and adult education and the lack of power in the Department to co-ordinate is indicated by the fact that the Zambia Adult Education Advisory Board was still trying in December 1981 to obtain the teeth it needs through a statutory instrument which could give it the authority to co-ordinate the activities of member agencies.

The Ministry of Youth and Sport established in 1979 now has the major responsibility for developing skills training programmes for school-leavers and the Commissioner for Youth has been moved from the Ministry of Education to this new Ministry. The Ministry estimated in 1980 that there were 900,000 youths, the majority of them primary school leavers, who were not being catered for and to this number has to be added those who were illiterate and semi-literate. It accepted that this was its target group and took the view that unless something drastic was done to mobilise resources to cope with the situation an explosion of dissatisfied and neglected youths was inevitable. Politically it was important to take measures which would make both the youths themselves and the community at large realise that efforts were being made to reduce unemployment through providing skills training programmes. It is a major understatement to say that it has not yet proved possible to mobilise resources on the scale required. Ministry objectives are to reduce youth unemployment through their direct participation in agricultural production schemes, agricultural settlements, small-scale industries and skills training. The initial emphasis has been on the planning of 50 community based skills training centres, one in each district, at an estimated cost of K2,800,000. Funds made available in 1980 were K10,000 and in 1981 K30,000 although these figures may be supplemented by grants from non-governmental organisations. One centre has been built at Chiyota. It was hoped in 1980 to begin with ten selected district centres but due to lack of funds these were not built. The Department of Youth has only 26 members of staff, five of whom are now posted to the provinces. They do not have their own transport. The provincial officers are to assess what is being done by the various governmental and non-governmental organisations in youth training, to develop co-ordination, examine employment and self-employment possibilities, and to initiate youth development projects with other departments, voluntary agencies and the party. In establishing themselves they have had to cope with the problems of housing; having to beg office equipment, furniture and space from other departments; and a lack of understanding of their role. There is little co-ordination on youth development between Community Development, Ministry of Education and Culture, Young Farmers' Clubs and District Councils. Fragmentation and ad hoc initiatives characterise the situation in youth development at field level. A major difficulty for the provincial youth development officer is that in explaining his role to other departments, provincial and district councils, the party, non-government agencies and the public he is continually asked what resources he has brought with him. Apart from the possibility of small grants to existing non-governmental schemes his answer has to be 'very few' and his standing and influence to create co-ordination with others who also lack resources is diminished.

The Ministry's position then in relation to its objectives, policies and practice is one of grave difficulty. Apart from finance it also lacks staff with the necessary teaching skills and it has to develop its own staff training programme. Its impact on its target group can only be minimal given present resources.

The Ministry of Youth and Sport has taken over from the Ministry of Education and Culture the task of making grants to skills training schemes developed by voluntary agencies, local authorities and community groups. In 1979, 46 projects were counted in Zambia.33 Most were of recent origin and the majority were begun by Christian agencies on the line of rail. In his excellent 1981 study of non-formal training programmes in Lusaka. Hoppers comments that:

In all, non-formal training has become a safety device, predominantly for 'middle-class' school leavers which, it is hoped, will prevent them from sliding too far down into the abyss of poverty and despair and which represents a last effort to fulfil a basic desire of 'cashing in' on the education they have received before.34

But the effectiveness of non-formal training is linked by young people to the prospects of obtaining work afterwards. There are at present very few programmes. Some of them are effective for participants in terms of obtaining work afterwards. If however there were to be a large expansion of such schemes their usefulness to participants would disappear in that jobs or self-employment in the limited urban informal sector would not be available. At present then the social control function of non-formal education visualised by the Ministry of Youth and Sport is ineffective in that the small number of non-formal programmes make its impact marginal. In the unlikely event of a massive expansion of non-formal education the social control function would be severely mitigated by the lack of available subsequent employment. It has to be concluded that non-formal education for school-leavers in the absence of genuine economic change in favour of the poor is likely to have only cosmetic effects.

Agricultural extension and 'Agriplan'35

The importance of rural regeneration and agricultural development to the Zambian economy and the well-being of the majority of the people cannot be overemphasised. Agricultural extension workers in the field are the main link between the farmer and government marketing, farming requisites and credit services. Their work would be of major importance to a strategy for rural development on a broad front and for tackling increasing rural poverty. But the impact of agricultural extension has been limited and tends to benefit richer and emergent farmers. A major reason, apart from the lack of staff and resources, has been the unrealistic belief that merely by training farmers significant increases in agricultural production and income for rural people would be achieved. Training alone cannot change the fact of poverty, poor producer prices, structural constraints and lack of credit, transport and marketing facilities. It can however be a vital part of the struggle to achieve awareness and long-term change. This role was emphasised by Honeybone and Marter36 in their evaluation study of Farm Institutes and Farmers' Training Centres. They were very clear that the dispensing of agricultural information and skins was insufficient; that extension staff should become more general educators and that their training should take this into account.

The problems of agricultural extension are political, economic and educational. Skills acquisition may be seen as a vital but nevertheless secondary process to the primary educational task of developing social awareness and the capacity and confidence to decide on what can be done. Proposals on training and extension approaches made by Honeybone and Marter in 1975, which involved increased priority for subsistence farmers and extension seen as part of a wider adult education in the processes of rural development, have not been taken up although senior officers are well aware of their potential significance.

Instead agricultural extension has been characterised by neglect, low priority and a continuing lack of human and financial resources. There are still only 1,481 officers in the service at national, provincial and camp levels. Their social status is low and staff are usually poorly paid, badly housed and undertrained. The service has not expanded (the Second National Development Plan 1972-76 had planned to have 2,672 extension staff by 1976) and there are few opportunities for promotion and m-service training. The morale of many workers in the field is low. On average one worker has 600 households to contact and work with. If we average ten to a household it means that he or she is concerned with the needs, purposes and well-being of 6,000 people. Cut-backs in government expenditure have meant that Farm Institutes and Farmers Training Centres are operating at well below 50% capacity. Farm requisites are in short and uncertain supply. The department has little transport and very small amounts of petrol although there are presently attempts being made to distribute motorcycles donated by Sweden.

Workers tend to neglect small farmers and concentrate on emergent and richer farmers as they respond more readily to advice and have the resources to utilise it. The worker can then show 'better' results in his monthly reports and so improve his standing in the department. But the vast majority of subsistence farmers and traditional staple crops such as cassava, millet and sorghum are neglected. Many workers do not look upon villagers as farmers at all and senior Zambian staff say that the colonial structure and mentality continues to influence Practice. Training in the colleges encourages staff to think that they know best and have nothing to learn from the farmer. Technical advice and concentration on cash crops are often inappropriate. Workers frequently take the view that the villager needs only to try harder to move up the ladder and become an emergent or commercial farmer and that his poverty is due to laziness and the refusal to accept good advice. Zambia's extension system has tended to reinforce the poverty and disadvantage of the farmer with a hoe and half a hectare.

The neglect of agricultural extensions taken together with low investment in the agricultural sector is an indication of the real priority given by government to rural development and the needs of the rural majority. But the quality and level of dedication of many members of staff is such that real improvements could be achieved if reallocation of priorities and resources, and decentralisation of decision-making in line with stated government objectives were made. The UN/FAO. 'Agriplan' project team in 1979 based their work on political and economic assumptions involving government policies on decentralisation and the stated policies and objectives in the Third National Development Plan 1979-8337 which gives priority to rural development and the poorer farmers. Despite its shortcomings the 'Agriplan' project (February 1979-December 1981) may be utilised as one test of government's real intentions and priorities.

The project was intended, in the context of decentralisation of planning and possible devolution of decision-making and funding, to train agricultural extension workers and other appropriate rural development workers in small-scale and local project planning. The training material and methods were to be developed in the field with Zambian workers and aimed at assisting them to identify, prepare and present, together with local farmers, detailed and viable project plans which might attract funding. Plans were to be based on local needs, purposes and interests and on local decision-making. Unless projects come for funding in this way the involvement of subsistence and small-scale farmers in development and its benefits may continue to be minimal. 'Agriplan' became a training method which could prepare a project as an active and practical part of the training. It was educational in the wider sense in that it developed awareness of the political nature of planning and development. The project was experimental and based in Central Province in what was intended to be a first three year phase. The developed and tested methodology and regionally-adapted materials were then to be utilised and developed in Zambia's other provinces as a normal part of in-service training and action in local project planning. The objective was to create large numbers of small projects which would benefit the villager and the poorest.

The programme was based on participatory learning methods; the view that effective change and action always imply a related learning element; and an approach which would assist participants to create with subsistence and small-scale farmers plans based on their-knowledge and interests as well as the technical knowledge of the worker.

A flexible planning model, case-studies, background papers and training manuals were developed during the project, and evaluation showed that when used by experienced trainers and educators the methods and materials were acceptable and effective as in-service training.38 The programme does not present a mechanical new truth about planning and it respects the knowledge and rationality of the villagers. But it does provide structured learning. The material is not over-simplified and hard work had to be done. It is not a diluted curriculum in which content and learning become incidental and process, participation and enjoyment become central.

Phase II of the project was to train trainers, integrate the programme into normal in-service training and spread it to other provinces. But it appears that basic assumptions on decentralisation of decision-making and funding may prove to be incorrect. Dominant political and bureaucratic interests and the weight of present centralised sectoral and departmental structures all work against the decentralisation and flexibility required by 'Agriplan'.39 The short-term interests of powerful elite groups are not served by genuine decentralisation of planning and the reallocation of scarce revenue to small projects which benefit the poor. The interests of small farmers are not effectively articulated in the political system. It would seem that the basic strategy in agriculture is still to provide food security for the towns and to this end agreements are being made with foreign donors to establish large-scale state farms in each of Zambia's provinces. Such farms have been tried before and have proved expensive failures. Even if the state farms are successful they will not provide a significant increase in employment or food security for the rural poor and to the extent that they take up manpower and finance the degree of neglect of the small farmer will be increased.

A Phase II of 'Agriplan' may not be justified in Zambia in that conditions are not appropriate and this once more illuminates the difficulties and limitations of educational and developmental reform which aim to benefit the rural poor. The project certainly had its own weaknesses but its lack of success may also demonstrate the real intentions and values of government development strategies.

Workers' education: the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions and the Presidents' Citizenship College.

Before 1964 the trade union movement established itself as a powerful and independent force in the industrial sector. The movement was heavily involved in political activity and education directed towards the goal of independence. It was also involved in creating awareness among workers of the objectives, benefits and organisation of trade unions. Much of the work was informal and took place in meetings and discussion.

After Independence the trade unions (there are now 18) organised on a national basis and formed the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions which established a Department of Workers' Education in 1968 at its Headquarters in Kitwe. The Department, together with the individual unions, began to develop a more systematic and structured educational programme for unionists at all levels. The objectives41 are

to provide National Unions and Workers' Education Bodies with technical and material assistance in the production of teaching materials and equipment;

to initiate, plan, co-ordinate and implement ZCTU programmes and also assisting National Unions and specialised Workers Bodies to develop their Workers' Education activities and to train workers in political, social and economic subjects;

to enable the Department to serve as a clearing house for information in the field of Workers' Education;

identifying and undertaking studies;

analysing the education activities in National Unions with a view to revising periodically the methods and techniques used in programmes recommended by the ZCTU.

Other agencies, the Presidents' Citizenship College at Kabwe which opened in 1973, the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation and the University of Zambia's Extra-Mural Department (now the Centre for Continuing Education) were also becoming active in workers' education. The Zambian Government, through the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, and the Zambia Federation of Employers also showed an interest in workers' education as a result of their concern for an orderly system of industrial relations. Various attempts have been made to develop co-ordination in the field.41 The informal Workers' Education Consultation played a part in this from 197442 and although this body is still in existence the most effective co-ordination has recently been through the joint co-ordination committee of the ZCTU and PCC formed in 1981 as the major agencies concerned with workers' education.

The major advance in structuring workers' education was the development of a modular system at the PCC and pre entered by the International Labour Organisation expert, Philip Hopkins, to the Workshop of Trade Union Chairmen and General Secretaries in December 1973 which approved its general principles. By February 1974 the system had been revised and developed by meetings of full-time trade union educators and the Workers' Education Consultation, and received the full support of the ZCTU. Department of Workers' Education (see Appendix III). The problems identified in workers' education 1968-73 were:

Programmes were overloaded with too many didactic and informational lectures.

Worker-students often repeated the same programmes in successive seminars.

There was no progressive sequence of studies.

Courses were not designed to meet the needs of various groups and types of worker-students.

Stress was usually placed upon giving information, rather than on developing skills needed for further study and for effective action in trade unions and social affairs.

The educational and social background of groups of participants was greatly varied.

The lower-paid membership were often neglected.

The-modular system is designed for target groups in the lower paid, middle level leadership (branch officials, shop stewards, works councillors, workers' educators) and the top leadership. The modules range from two-day seminars to courses lasting several weeks for more advanced work and provide a progressive and linked sequence of study. Individual unions have taken the main responsibility for the basic and shorter modules, the ZCTU in mobile seminars have developed the work on intermediate modules and the PCC and ZCTU have worked together on the more advanced programmes. Where necessary the ZCTU assists a number of unions which are short of resources. The Centre for Continuing Education and the Ministry of Labour and Social Services have, with the ZCTU, provided provincial seminars on the 1971 Industrial Relations Act43 and the PCC now has a six month certificate course on Industrial Relations, Personnel Management and Trade Union studies. Of major significance is the programme for workers' educators developed at the PCC which is in progressive three-week stages and this has been effective in improving the quality of much workers' education in individual unions and the ZCTU. Only six out of the 18 unions do not now have full-time educators and all have part-time educators. Most of them have undertaken at least three stages of workers' educator training and press their individual unions to develop their educational programmes.

Major problems remain in terms of finance and human resources. Much remains to be done for the low-paid worker, for the development of quality and consistency in workers' education and in research. The PCC/ZCTU Co-ordinating Committee meeting in March 1981 has revised the modular system in the light of experience and changing needs and noted that a continuing major difficulty is the mixed educational and occupational backgrounds of participants in the various modules. It therefore recommended more efficient selection procedures for the various target groups and a greater degree of co-ordination between the PCC and ZCTU in the implementation of programmes.

The quality of work is patchy, the educational needs of workers not being met are of course enormous and it is difficult to quantify achievements but the following factors are significant.

A major principle of the modular system from the basic to advanced levels is that workers' education is not only concerned with skills and role training in industrial relations but with general and social education and the analysis of industrial relations in a political and historical context. Each skill module is matched by a political economy module and, particularly after the 1981 revisions, these are usually taught together. After being tested for seven years the conclusion is that the system is popular and effective. The Department of Workers' Education in the ZCTU is very clear that it is concerned in its programmes not only with worker at his work-place but also with him or her as a member of the community in which he lives. It is concerned to emphasise that, while they do not exclude approaches designed to achieve short-term solutions, educational programmes are designed to develop critical and independent judgement which will enable effective participation in management and social affairs at every level of the decision-making process. A senior union official remarked in November 1981 that there was no doubt that workers' education had progressed in that 'many workers now know their rights as trade union members but they know more about their rights as citizens'.

Training for workers' educators has produced an increase in quality in both methods and content.

Since 1976 there has been a major increase in the number of elected officials who have previously undertaken training in the modular system, intermediate and advanced courses at the PCC and workers' education training.

While it is not possible to claim direct causal relationships with developments in workers' education there is much evidence at local provincial and national levels that union officials, elected and appointed, have a deeper and better informed political and economic analysis of society than their nearest leadership equivalents in the Party and that this advantage affects the relative strength of their respective
organisations.

Despite selection problems m the workers' education programme at the PCC it has been more effective than that employed for the political education unit at the college whose target groups include party cadres, councillors and civic leaders, local government administrators and staff in parastatal industries. A follow-up survey of participants by the staff of the political education unit carried out in 1980 showed that:

.. in all cases we see that the lack of progression of courses, lack of preparation due to late notification and lack of utilisation of the knowledge gained from the courses which are conducted at the PCC makes the trained personnel frustrated and indeed the training itself a mockery and a waste of funds.

44

Steps are now being taken to try and remedy this situation both at the PCC and at Freedom House (UNIP Headquarters).

It has been perceived in Freedom House and elsewhere, whether or not the perception is entirely accurate, that the degree of effectiveness of workers' education may have contributed at least partially to the conflicts between the 'Party and its Government' and organised labour. In December 1981 there was a lack of clarity as to the functions of the Industrial Participatory Democracy Unit which is in the Prime Minister's office but headed by a Member of the Central Committee of the Party. Its terms of reference are not clear and, together with the Prices and Incomes Commission, leaves the Ministry of Labour and Social Services in an ambiguous position. The fear amongst some union leaders is that the ultimate intention is to develop a form of workers' management which would obscure employer/employee relationships, emasculate the functions of the unions and allow the Party to appoint representatives of labour who are at present elected by the membership. It is also feared that amendments to legislation may provide the Minister of Labour and Social Services with the power to remove elected leaders who are not in his own judgement carrying out the proper and normal functions of a trade union and to replace them with his own nominees. Labour leaders are concerned not to arrive at the Tanzanian model where organised labour is a wing of the Party and officials appointed by the Party. It is felt that in times of dispute this arrangement would leave employers and government with no effective or official representatives of labour to talk to and with whom the necessary negotiations and bargaining could take place. In December 1981 there was also concern that amendments to legislation left workers' education out of the list of proper and normal functions of trade unions on which money could be expended.

It is felt possible that the tactics are to create a degree of confusion and disruption which win provide the Party and its Government with the opportunity to step in and attempt to take control of the labour movement.

7. In this difficult political situation the continuation of the modular system of workers' education is under threat for both political and financial reasons.

The President's Citizenship College is an important factor in its continuation. The College's objectives are to educate citizens in participatory democracy, humanism and political, social and economic problems. It provides education for trade unionists, co-operators, political cadres, managers, community development and social workers. There are four interdisciplinary academic units which service each other's programmes - the political education unit, the economic and social development unit, the co-operatives and agricultural marketing studies unit and the industrial relations unit. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has provided major funding for the College since it opened in 1973 but is now pulling out. It has also provided funding for trade unionists to attend the longer intermediate and advanced courses at the college. Unions previously have paid only transport and incidental costs. There is then financial and political pressure on the college to reduce its workers' education programme and increase and reorientate its political education programme. The resignation in 1981 of the Principal, Mr. Emmanuel Cholobesa, who has his own political standing and who has been a major source of strength for the independence and long term interests of the college, has not assisted the situation.

If the college is to depend now largely on government funding, the development and growth of the modular system of workers' education may well be stunted. In addition it is now difficult to obtain international funding for workers' education as this now has to be channelled through and approved by the Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Any funds intended for the ZCTU will receive very careful scrutiny and this situation may serve to discourage possible donors.

Progressive reform and development in the field of workers' education is then threatened by the nature of intra-elite conflict. There is evidence to suggest that the perceived effectiveness of workers' education has contributed to this threat in the sense that it is seen to be strengthening the union position in intra-elite conflict and so has become, at least in the short-term, a potential casualty of conflict. The longer-term effects remain to be seen.

Conclusion

In formal and non-formal education, in adult and child education, in agricultural extension and in workers' education the genuine attempts made to achieve reforms which benefit the poor have been largely frustrated. What are we to make of this? The fact that the attempts have been mad, indicates the quality, perception and commitment of many Zambian educators at all levels. It also demonstrates that they have a relative autonomy and that despite current lack of success educators can continue to work for progressive change and that the values, nature and purposes of dominant interest groups may be revealed through their efforts.

It can be argued that the work of the reformers was utopian, cut off from a popular base and that short-term failure may make reform more difficult to achieve in future. It can also be argued that the proposed 1976 educational reforms were not radical in that it was unrealistic to expect corresponding social and economic change so that the reforms, providing for basic practical education, production and work, would merely assist in adjusting villagers and the urban unemployed to their dominated and exploited position in society.45 Lack of popular support, apart from the shortage of effective mechanisms for popular participation, indicates the ideological effectiveness of the present educational system in that there is evidence that many villagers and school-leavers ask only for greater access to an unchanged structure which they do not perceive to be unfair. Many still see failure as their own fault. It is true that in unfavourable political and economic circumstances what appears to be progressive educational reform may well turn out to have reactionary effects serving dominant minority interest. This should emphasise to educators the importance of theory and political analysis in developing appropriate strategies and tactics for reform. In relation to the 'National Debate' on the 1976 reforms, I would argue that, whatever the problems of the official exercise it has stimulated an expressive process of critical debate and reflection which was not anticipated at the official level. This view must necessarily be proposed in tentative terms but has been confirmed by discussion with people involved and the same view applies to those involved in agricultural extension and workers' education. An active process has begun and will continue to develop in unpredictable ways presenting a critique of policy. People at various levels have and are creating their own meanings and interpretations in a way which cannot be controlled or contained. And it is in this creative process that the purposes of adult education must be rooted if educators are not to be the ciphers of official policy.

Certainly the failures and difficulties experienced indicate that the rhetoric of Zambian Humanism is an insufficient basis for progressive change in education. The problems and difficulties of action directed towards changing educational structures and programmes have resulted in a clearer understanding of the nature of power in Zambian society. For some educators and members of the public the reasons for failure are now a part of critical consciousness and education is seen in its political context. The work of the educational reformers actively creates, in varying degrees, a social awareness which is an integral and necessary part of processes of historical change which may benefit the Zambian majority.

Further references

Ministry of Development Planning & National Guidance, 1971, Second National Development Plan, January 1972 - December 1976, Lusaka.

Office of National Development Planning, 1966, First National Development Plan 1966-70, Lusaka.

Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia ,1981, Agriplan Training System - Trainers Manual, Rome, UN. Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia, 1981, Aspects of Agricultural Development in Central Province, Zambia, Rome, UN. Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia, 1981, Training Manual Guidelines for Contributors, Norwich, ODG., University of East Anglia.

President's Citizenship College, 1981, Annual Report 1979, Kabwe.

Appendix I Structure of National Education

Appendix II Interim Structure of Education

Notes

Various vocational programmes, for example, Trades, Nursing, Teacher Training, etc., leading to certificates.

Various programmes, for example, Agriculture, Technology, Commerce, Nursing, etc., leading usually to a diploma.

Trade Union terms in simple English or local language. Simple exercises in clear thinking and speaking. Rousing interest in practical projects. Getting used to discussion. Simple Arithmetic of wages and 'personal economy'.

Communications and human relations; how to make a short relevant speech. Planning and running meetings. Letter writing and keeping minutes. Simple administration and Trade Union Finance. Organising simple Development Projects.

More advanced exercises of A3 type, with stress on developing judgement and skills in communication and administration (General and Financial).

Module A 6

Skills for Workers' Educators

Communication skills and teaching methods and techniques. How to prepare and use teaching aids, such as audio-visual aids, case studies, role-plays, etc. Principles of education planning and organisation.

Humanism and Zambia's One-Party Participatory Democracy. Basic economic terms and National Development Plans. Problems of rural development productivity, inflation and National Income and Prices Policy. 'Personal Economy' family budget, savings, co-operatives, banks, and building societies.

Deeper study of Zambia's economic problems (internal and external). Statistics regarding economic development. Problems of workers' participation in planning. Population and unemployment problems. Zambia and the Organisation of African Unity, United Nations and problems of World Trade.

Module B 5

Other Socialised Topics

For example,

Industrial Psychology, Industrial Sociology and Personnel Management;

Social Structure and Social change;

Trade Unions and Community Development;

Trade Unions and Co-operatives and Credit Unions;

Theory and Practice of Central and Local Government;

Pan-Africanism, Foreign Policy and External Relations;

Budgeting, Book-keeping, Accounts;

General Administration;

Information Services, Publicity and Public Relations.

It is unanimously agreed that National Unions should concentrate mainly upon the Basic Modules (Al, A2, A3, B1 and B2); and that the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, President's Citizenship College and other agencies should share the work in modules A4, A5, A6, A7, B3 and B5.

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions has also stressed that great emphasis should be given to political education in Modules B2 and B4; and that Industrial Participatory Democracy should feature prominently in Modules B3 and B4.

Progression rates represent the number of Grade 5 classes in 1976 compared with the number of Grade 4 classes in 1975. If calculated in terms of actual enrolment, the percentage would be slightly higher. Source: Office of the President, 1979, op. cit. p. 337